Nick Drake Made Autumn Audible
I’m walking down University Terrace, a road that cuts through the heart of Ohio University. An autumnal paradise surrounds me. The air is crisp and light. The grass is a lush green, bearing remnants of rain from the prior evening. Tall trees stretch massive trunks into a pale blue sky, as branches arch over [...]
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Jazz As Juggernaut in Mingus’ Black Saint
Charles Mingus was a musician’s musician. Uncommonly talented, Mingus was the first bassist to transform his instrument from a rhythm-maker to the star of the ensemble.
A worshipper of Duke Ellington, Mingus’ compositions were kaleidoscopes of blue notes and sharps. Mingus’ odd sense of humor emerged in album titles like Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, and [...]
Let the American Psycho Speak
American Psycho, the 1991 novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis, is a filthy, offensive, horrifying book. Throughout the course of the book’s daunting 400 pages, Wall Street investor and A-class yuppie Patrick Bateman blinds a homeless man, murders a dog, crucifies an old girlfriend with a nail gun, disembodies prostitutes, and performs cannibalism.
Even [...]
Capote: In Cold Blood to The Complete Stories
I first discovered Truman Capote when I saw the 2005 film Capote. I had heard of the writer but knew only of the his eccentric nature, odd mannerisms, and the sizeable reputation of his written work. The plot of Capote revolves around the writer’s meticulous construction of In Cold Blood, which I read and [...]
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